Christmas Dinner

I hope everyone had a merry one. I had a three day weekend, so I had a lot of time to play in the kitchen (and to sit around and do nothing). I made the squash version of Kittee's Crispy Crunchy Stuffed Tofu a few weeks ago, and Jeff and I loved it so much that I really wanted to try the spinach version. If you haven't made these yet, you really should, because they are just SO good. I also made mashed potatoes with chickpea gravy from Vegan With A Vengeance, and roasted some sweet dumpling squash.

The chickpea gravy is always delicious. I could eat a whole bowl of it. We don't use nutritional yeast around here, so I always substitute some tahini in it's place. To me it has that rich, 'cheezy'
flavor that you're going for by adding nutritional yeast. Anyway, I pretty much sub it in any recipe calling for nooch (nutritional yeast for those in the know...).

Gravy simmering.

These cute squash have been sitting around wondering why, oh, why weren't we eating them? I started wondering the same thing considering how easy it is to roast squash. I peeled them and cut them into bite size pieces first, then tossed with some olive oil, thyme, and rosemary. Roasty toasty, tasty.

Sweet Dumpling Squash

The filling for the tofu smelled, tasted, and looked wonderful. I used the last of my cumin in the gravy (I use cumin every other day, so running out puts me on edge...yikes.), and don't currently have any Tony Charchere's, so I added some Sriracha hot chili sauce (the bottle with the rooster) and a little of whatever happened to be by the stove at the moment. I also didn't have any cilantro...yeah, there may have been a lack of planning here.

Spinach stuffing

Tofu ready for breading.

I had never breaded anything the way Kittee instructs before. Why!? Somehow it has eluded me all these years, and it is a sad thing, because it comes out so thick and crunchy! I used a combination of puffed millet and a cereal called Nutty Rice for the 'crunchy stuff'. What I love most about this recipe is how crispy the it turns out with so little oil.

Half gone before it made it to the table.

This was a home cookin' kind of meal. Rich, satisfying, tasty without appearing fussy. I was just cooking for the two of us, so there were leftovers, which always makes me happy. I've never understood people's aversion to leftovers. Midnight snack? Lunch the next day? Perfect.

Multiple vanity shots

Nutmeg didn't eat tofu or mashed potatoes, but don't worry...she was happy and well fed.


Fruity Rabbit

Eggnog Apple Walnut Pancakes

Pancakes are one of my favorite things. Pancakes made with eggnog, apples, walnuts, and drizzled with caramel sauce are now my all time favorite pancake...ever.




This was one of those "I wonder..." recipes. We wanted pancakes. And we had eggnog. What would eggnog pancakes be like? And the rest just fell in line. I have since discovered that there are a bunch of eggnog pancake recipes online, but none with apples and walnuts that I could find...and they are what really make these pancakes work. These turned out fluffy and tender, and the eggnog makes them incredibly rich. We ate them with tofu bacon strips from Vegan With A Vengeance.

1 and 1/2 cup flour (I used spelt)
1/4 tsp. salt
2 tsp. baking powder
freshly grated nutmeg (NOT the rabbit)
substitute for 2 eggs (I used flax eggs- 1 Tbsp. ground flax + 3 Tbsp. water = one egg)
1 and 1/2 cup soy eggnog
1 and 1/2 Tbsp. melted Earth Balance (or other margarine)
1 apple (I used a Cameo) thinly sliced and chopped
Chopped Walnuts--I just added a couple of big handfuls

Giant Pancake of Doom

Combine the dry ingredients. In a separate bowl combine the wet ingredients. Stir the wet into the dry until just combined. Add the apples and walnuts and give it a few more stirs. Cook on a nonstick skillet (or whatever) and serve with crushed walnuts and caramel sauce. Don't add any sugar to the batter, because the eggnog is plenty sweet already. For the sauce I just heated up some Earth Balance and sugar until the sugar was dissolved, and thinned it with a little soy milk. These were so good that the two of us ate the whole batch. Hey, we were really hungry. So if you are cooking for several people you might make extra.

I only use Nutmeg approved apples.

The best pancakes ever.